Espousèd Saint
by Erik deSoir
Summary: Remake of an old classic Draco thinks of Harry, dreams of Harry.


Title: Espousèd Saint

Author: Erik deSoir

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its characters belong to J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. and to various publishers including but not limited to Scholastic Books, Raincoat Books, and Bloomsbury Books. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended. wails

Pairing: HD

Warning: previous character death

Note: This poem is a recreation of John Milton's "Methought I Saw My Late Espousèd Saint." I will make footnotes that are present in the actual poem when necessary and will note what changes I have made and what the original states. I do not want to clutter the poem with all the notes so I will trust that you will keep in mind that every reference to a man is actually a she in the original.

Methought I saw my late espousèd saint

Brought to me like Alcéstis 1 from the grave,

Whom Jove's great son to her glad husband gave,

Rescued from death by force though pale and faint.

Mine, as whom 2 washed from spot of old age 3 taint,

Though my heart would have it so, I could not save, 4

And such, as yet once more I trust to have

Full sight of him in heaven without restraint,

Came vested all in white, pure as his mind.

His face was veiled, yet to my fancied sight 5

Love, sweetness, goodness, in his person shined

So clear, as in no face with more delight.

But O, as to embrace me he inclined,

I waked, he fled, and day brought back my night.

John Milton was a writer during the Baroque period of the Renaissance. This particular sonnet was written after the death of his second wife, Katherine Woodcock, who died during childbirth. The spectacular thing about all of this is that by the time he married his second wife, he had already gone blind. That's what truly makes this sonnet tug at one's heartstrings. He had literally never laid eyes on the woman, yet he sees her clearly in this dream.

What touched me so much about this poem was the last line, "… and day brought back my night." I love the contrast of it, the concept it brings. He can only see in his dreams, when all is dark and his eyes are closed. Daylight brings the day, and the day brings waking, which for him means utter darkness. Kind of touching, isn't it?

As I said, that last line touches me in the deepest of my heart. I was sort of glancing over it once when it hit me that that line could be taken in another way. He is with her in his dream. The next-to-last line says that as she leaned forward to embrace him he wakes and the dream is gone. Then the bit that touches me says that day brings back his night. Could that not also be taken as the waking for the day wrenches him away from where he truly wants to be? He is with her in his sleeping hours, he is with her and he is happy, fully happy. Having to wake up and go through the motions of the day means he cannot 'be' with her. He bemoans the day for coming because it takes him away from her.

When that thought struck my brain, I exploded a little. Of the many things it made me think of, Harry's death floated to the surface. So I hastily scribbled down some notes and ta da! This revised poem was born.

Footnotes:

1: In Euripides's _Alcestis_, Alcestis, wife of Admetus, is rescued from the underworld by Hercules ("Jove's great son") and restored, veiled, to Admetus; he is overjoyed when he lifts the veil, but she must remain silent until she is ritually cleansed.

2: As one whom

3: "old age" was changed from "childbed"

4: This whole line was rewritten. The original line is "Purification in the old law did save," which alludes to the Mosaic Law which prescribed periods of purification of women after childbirth.

5: "fancied sight" : in the original sonnet, this alluded to Milton's never having seen his wife, so he is simply imaging how she must have looked. When I read it with Draco in mind, I imagine he sees Harry in his youth, rather than in the wizened state he must have been in when he died.

Notes: Footnotes 1 and 2 came directly from The eighth edition of The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Copyright 2006. Gen. ed. Stephen Greenblatt. Pg 723.

The part than mentions Mosaic Law in footnote 4 has also been taken from the text.


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